John Lennon's artwork in Boulder this weekend

This illustration and several others rarely seen outside of New York will be part of a John Lennon art exhibit in Boulder this weekend.

If you go

What Yoko Ono Presents: "Imagine" -- The Artwork of John Lennon

When Today 5-9 p.m.; tomorrow 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m.--6 p.m.

Where 902 Pearl St., Boulder (at the corner of Pearl & 9th St.)

Admission Free, $2 suggested donation to Boulder County AIDS Project

No more than now is former Beatle John Lennon's earnest message of peace, love and coming together more appropriate and urgently needed. But Beatles fans and even non-fans can also enjoy the lighter side of Lennon in his whimsical and ironic cartoons of life at a weekend exhibition, "Imagine," opening tonight in downtown Boulder. The show, which also benefits the Boulder County AIDS Project, includes about 100 prints of Lennon's drawings and musical lyrics.

It's pretty exciting to see Lennon's handwritten lyrics of "Nowhere Man" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," scribbled like a doctor's prescription, along with erotic drawings of his life with his second wife Yoko Ono.

Lennon, who would have turned 70 last month, died in 1980, when a deranged stalker shot him outside of his New York apartment. Ono, his spirited, sprightly and artist-in-her own-right 77-year-old widow just returned from London, where a screening of the film, "Lennon, New York City," was held. "Also, some English Heritage people placed a plaque on a London house there where John lived," Ono said in a telephone interview yesterday. Last year, at the age of 76, Ono scored her fifth No. 1 hit on the dance/club play chart with, "I'm Not Getting Enough."

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Ono says Lennon's artwork was "his security blanket" something he took relief and refuge in since "he was a workaholic like me." She says his art is more respected today than few decades ago. "In those days animation style was not considered serious art. But these days the serious art world is really picking up on animation." The Museum of Modern Art in New York has 15 of Lennon's pieces in its permanent collection.

"We've got so much history going on, and those personal stories that people come in with are just so wonderful -- where they were when John was shot, where they were when they saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, the first time they listened to the White Album, the fact that they came down the aisle to 'In My Life,'" said Rudy Siegel of Legacy Fine Art & Productions, as he helped install the show yesterday.

"You can have the wealthiest person who stands next to someone who doesn't have a penny in their pocket and they look at the artwork and listen to the music and they coexist here and share in that experience," said Siegel. "So we feel really good in that we're perpetuating the message that John was espousing. There are few places in the country that exemplify that more than Boulder. This is a very cool and hip and open and embracing community and that's one of the reasons we keep coming back."

Inevitably, people wonder what Lennon would be doing if he were alive now.

"He would probably want to be an activist again," Ono said. "He was always an activist -- and he'd be doing something that he thought he could do best, like with music or through statements."

She believes that John's greatest achievement was "being very human and showing it.

"He said, 'Gimme some truth,' and he meant, 'I'm going to give some truth too, I'm going to be truthful,' " she says.

Limited-edition prints of Lennon's work at the show sell for $200 to $20,000. Each piece has a certificate of authenticity. There's also an array of T-shirts, mugs, hats and other affordable memorabilia adorned with Lennon's artwork.

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